Don’t Look Now, But The Pirates Are In The Playoffs, And The Steelers Are The Worst Team In Football*

Jake O'Donnell

1:02 pm, October 1st, 2013

*Well, they’re not the worst talent-wise, but record-wise they can’t get any worse. The greatest franchise in the NFL over the last 50 years is 0-4 in 2013. Meanwhile, over in baseball world, the worst franchise over the last 20 years, the Pirates, just clinched a wild card playoff berth with 94 wins.

Pittsburgh has long suffered through the Pirate’s inability to play winning baseball, finding solace in a football team that has been relevant every season, more or less, for the last 20 years. Here’s a quick breakdown to show what’s happened during that span for both historic/ancient franchises.

- The Steelers have played in four Super Bowls
- The Pirates have made the playoffs once (2013)
- The Steelers have made the playoffs 14 times
- The Pirates have a .417 winning percentage since 1993
- The Steelers have a . 720 winning percentage since 1993

The last time this situation happened, was in 1991, when the Steelers (lead by Neil O’Donnell), failed to make the playoffs at 7-9, and the Pirates (lead by Barry Bonds and Jim Leyland), lost in the NLCS to the Atlanta Braves.